The invention relates to a method of evaluating and processing a strip of originals to be copied, of the type wherein prior to the copying of the originals at a copying station, the originals are evaluated with respect to density, color and copiability, with the values thusly determined being entered upon an information carrier. The invention also relates to an apparatus for performing this type of method.
In general, with methods of this type, the originals to be copied are evaluated at an evaluating station, either by a human operator or by automatic means, to determine whether each such negative exhibits any unusual characteristics such as might require alteration of the operation of the automatic exposure control means provided at the copying station. Such unusual characteristics could for example include a dominant hue, lack of image sharpness, or complete lack of exposure. These characteristics are ascertained at the evaluating station and there entered upon an information carrier for evaluation at the copying station during copying.
In prior-art methods, negatives are displayed batchwise at the evaluating station, so that the human operator will simultaneously look over a plurality of negatives and make the necessary evaluations. The results of these evaluations are entered into a storage device using a keyboard present at the evaluating station. Upon completion of the evaluation of the batch of negatives at the evaluating station, the stored information is entered upon an information carrier. Later on, this information carrier is fed, along with the strip of originals, into the copying station, where the information carrier is read in a manner coordinated with the associated nagatives. This method is extremely expensive, because of the cost involved in the electronic circuitry for the storage device; in one known apparatus, the storage device has the form of a shift register circuit.
Furthermore, a considerable problem is presented by the synchronization of the information carrier and the strip of originals. Synchronizing means must be provided both at the evaluating station and at the copying station. If a circuit malfunction should occur in either of these two synchronizing means, the coordination between the original and the information associated therewith can be lost, i.e., an offset can develop as between the original and its associated information, resulting in improper copying of a considerable number of originals.